Bulldogs Finish Strong at Terrier Invitational

BOSTON – Racing concluded Sunday evening at the Terrier Invitational with Yale owning first place finishes in three individual events and one relay event. Yale finished in fifth position with a score of 407 points, just ahead of Boston College. The host team of Boston University finished first. Though they are not coming home with a win, the Bulldogs leave Boston with invaluable championship racing experience to prepare them for the Ivy League Championships in February.

The Terrier Invitational officially began on Friday morning, though Yale did not have anyone racing that day. And so things began on Saturday for the Bulldogs with the 200-yard medley relay, where the Yale 'A' relay team finished in a very formidable third position. UMass had quick backstroke and breaststroke legs to start things off, as did Boston College, but in the end UMass took fourth and the BC Eagles fifth, with only 0.5 seconds separating Yale in third position from UMass 'B' in seventh.

Next was the 400 IM, an event that is not normally contested in dual meets. Junior Abigail Nunn took sixth in a decidedly quick A final, one where Boston University's Amanda Schmitz broke her school's record in the event by 1.98 seconds.

Sophomore Alexandra Forrester then won the 100 fly and 200 free, netting the Bulldogs 20 points per event. In the 100-yard butterfly Forrester went 53.84, a solid improvement over her time of 54.36 last week against Columbia. Forrester then went 1:50.35 to win the 200 free, with teammates Joan Weaver and Molly Albrecht finishing fifth and eight, respectively.

The last race of the day was the 800 freestyle relay, another event that is typically only seen at championship-style meets like this one. Yale had the two fastest seed times in this event, and rightly so. The 'A' squad of Alexandria Forrester, Cynthia Tsay, Joan Weaver and Hayes Hyde finished first in 7:33.27, a full 1.6 seconds ahead of second place Boston University A. The other Yale relay team of Ileana Lucos, Erica Kao, Allison West and Courtney Randolph took 12th.

Racing then resumed on Sunday with the 1650-yard freestyle, the would-be marathon for collegiate swimmers. Joan Weaver took second to Boston University's Meaghan Grimes, who set a pool record with 16:44.62. Molly Albrecht (17:15.65) and Abigail Nunn (17:18.30) also racked up points for the Bulldogs in fifth and sixth position.

What the Bulldogs lacked in racing on Friday, they most certainly made up for in the last two events on Sunday.

Alexandra Forrester defended last year's win in the 200-yard butterfly, this time by more than two seconds. She in fact set the pool record in this distance in 2008 as a senior in high school.

All told the Bulldogs had a total of five swimmers in the A final of the 200 fly. Forrester took first, then came Hayes Hyde in fifth, Ileana Lucos in sixth, Alison West in seventh and Abigail Nunn in eighth.

The last race of the meet was the 400 freestyle relay. The 'A' team of Alexandria Forrester, Cynthia Tsay, Joan Weaver and Hayes Hyde followed up their impressive win in the 800 free relay with a solid second place finish behind Boston University. Here the Yale 'B' team took 13th.

The Terriers by all accounts defended their home pool. Both their women's and men's teams won with scores of more than 800 points for a combined score of 1666.5. In second place was UMass with 1171 points.

The Bulldogs have next weekend off but then a small contingent of swimmers will attend the U.S. Short Course National Championships on Dec. 2-5 in Columbia, Ohio. The rest of the team will be competing away against Vermont on Dec. 4.